1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information recording devices, information playback devices, information recording methods, information playback methods, information recording media, and program providing media. In particular, the present invention relates to an information recording device, an information playback device, an information recording method, and an information playback method in which content stored in a storage device is protected under high security management so that the content can be effectively checked for interpolation, and to an information recording medium and a program providing medium which are used therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid spread of the Internet in recent years and the spread of compact mobile players and portable game machines, the distribution of various types of software data (hereinafter referred to as “content”), such as music data, game programs, and image data, via a network such as the Internet or by storage media, such as digital versatile disks (DVDs), compact disks (CDs), and memory cards, is rapidly increasing. The distributed content is received via the network and is stored in a play-only device or a storage medium of a game machine which belongs to a user, or a memory card containing the content is loaded into the game machine, whereby content-playback processing or the execution of a program can be performed.
Content storage devices include a flash memory, which is commonly used. The flash memory is a form of electrically rewritable, non-volatile memory called an “electrically erasable, programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)”. The degree of integration of conventional EEPROMs is limited because the use of two transistors for one bit results in a large occupied area per bit. Conversely, in the flash memory, by using an all-bit batch erasure, one bit is implemented by one transistor. It is expected that flash memories will replace recording media such as magnetic disks and optical disks.
A type of memory card is also known in which the flash memory can be loaded/unloaded into/from a data recording/playback device. By using this memory card, a digital audio recorder/player in which a memory card is used instead of a conventional disk medium such as CD or MiniDisk (registered trademark) (MD) can be provided.
When such a content storage device using the flash memory is used in a personal computer, a playback unit, or the like, a file management system called a “file allocation table (FAT)” is generally used as an access information table. In the FAT system, after defining necessary files, the parameters required for the files are sequentially set from the first file. As a result, the file size can be set to be variable, and one or more management units (e.g., sectors or clusters) can constitute one file. Details related matters to the management units are written in the FAT. In the FAT system, the file structure can be easily formed regardless of the physical properties of the recording medium. Accordingly, the FAT system can be employed not only in floppy disks and hard disks but also in magneto-optical disks. The FAT system is employed in the above memory card.
Various content, such as music data, image data, or programs, are accessed based on the FAT from, for example, the above flash memory in response to a user's instruction from an information device which is used as a playback unit, a game machine, or a personal computer, or to a user's instruction via an input device connected to the information device. The content is played back by the information device or on a display and a speaker which are connected thereto.
In general, the distribution rights, etc., of much software content, such as game programs, music data, and image data, are possessed by the creators and sellers of the content. Accordingly, in the distribution of the contents, security limitation of usage is commonly employed in which unauthorized duplication, etc., is prevented by permitting only a registered user to use the content.
One technique enabling limitation of use by the user is encryption processing on the content to be distributed. Specifically, various encrypted contents, such as encrypted audio data, image data, and game programs, are distributed via, for example the Internet, and only a person who is identified as a registered user is supplied with a means for decrypting the distributed content, that is, a decryption key.
The encrypted data can be processed to form usable decrypted data (plaintext) by performing decryption processing based on predetermined processes. This method of data encryption and decryption which uses an encryption key for information encryption processing and a decryption key for decryption processing has been conventionally known.
When adding integrity check values (ICVs) to data which is stored in plurality of sectors of a memory (e.g., a flash memory) which stores data in units of sectors, and when adding an ICV for each sector, the storage of an ICV in the data part of each sector reduces a data area, and when a device performs data playback, processing that separates ICV data and actual data must be executed.
In this construction in which data is stored in units of sectors, the setting of ICVs in units of sectors causes problems in that a reduction in the capacity of the data storage area of the memory, an increase in the load on the device, etc. Accordingly, an effective construction is not implemented.